ScotRail has announced that extra compensation will be offered to season ticket holders as it apologised for falling performance levels.

The rail operator has been criticised over a number of cancellations across the country following the introduction of a new timetable in December.

Conductors and drivers being trained on new trains and routes has been blamed as a major reason for the disruption, with training expected to continue into February.

Compensation is already available to passengers who are delayed by more than 30 minutes under ScotRail’s Delay Repay Guarantee – with 50% of the cost of a single ticket or 25% of the cost of a return ticket paid back.

However, extra compensation will apply to season ticket holders who use routes that have been most affected by cancellations.

Alex Hynes, managing director of ScotRail, has said that performance levels have not been good enough (Andrew Cowan/PA)

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard attended the protest and backed calls from unions for the railway franchise to be removed from Dutch operator Abellio and returned to public ownership.

His party criticised the compensation as a “gimmick” which is “just not good enough” and said a real compensatory move would have been to back their call for a fare freeze.

Mr Leonard urged the Scottish Government to use the break clause in the ScotRail franchise to take the railway into public ownership.

“We’ve seen in the last weeks fares going up, so many of the commuters coming into Glasgow this morning are paying extra for a service which is worse and we think there is huge support for a return of ScotRail into public ownership,” he said.

“It would mean that every single penny that passengers pay would be reinvested in the railway instead of the current situation where part of that goes back to pay shareholder dividends in Holland.”

He added that since publicly-run Network Rail is operated as part of the ScotRail Alliance there was a “strong case” for the entire rail network in Scotland to become a publicly-owned and run integrated service.

Liz Warren-Corney of the TSSA said that Transport Secretary Michael Matheson would have to leave his post for this to happen as she believes he is “ideologically in favour of privatisation” unlike her view of his predecessor Humza Yousaf.

Questioned if Mr Matheson would have to go to achieve change, she said: “Yes. I don’t think that would be a bad thing.

“The job of Transport Secretary is to stand up for passengers and when it comes to ScotRail, he has done anything but.”

She added: “I think politicians need to bow to the will of the public and ultimately if they see this is what the public want then, yes, they will go that way.

“We certainly saw that Humza Yousaf was very much open to the idea of bringing ScotRail into public ownership.

“Unfortunately, he’s gone and Matheson has now bottled it, frankly, and clearly will do anything he can to prop up Abellio’s failing operation of ScotRail.”

The Scottish Government has called on the UK Government to devolve all matters involving rail (Jane Barlow/PA)

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Rail remains a reserved matter under the Scotland Act.

“Until this changes, we cannot consider the full range of options for running the railways in Scotland in a way which best suits our passengers, freight providers and communities.

“That is why we are yet again calling on the UK Government, through its rail review, to devolve all rail matters to the Scottish Ministers. Anyone with a genuine interest in improving our railways should get behind this.

“Unique in the UK, the Scottish Government has secured powers to accept bids for future rail franchises in Scotland from public sector organisations through the Scotland Act 2016.

“This was after repeatedly being denied that right by successive Labour and Conservative governments.”

An Abellio spokesman said: “Abellio’s focus is on delivering the existing franchise to the highest possible standards, working hard to put in place a railway that better connects passengers, businesses, and communities across Scotland.”

Comments & Moderation

Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.

This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here